Napolitano on IRS Scandal: '1st Amendment Was Written to Prevent This'

Judge Andrew Napolitano weighed in this morning on Fox and Friends on the scandal involving the IRS's targeting of conservative political groups, like the Tea Party. The IRS admitted last week after years of pressure from conservative watchdog groups that it had in fact been singling out right-wing organizations for extra scrutiny of their applications for tax-exempt status.

The judge said the IRS's actions appear to be a clear violation of the First Amendment.

"The First Amendment prohibits the government from making decisions based on the content of speech. And it is clear here that the IRS has decided to upgrade the level of scrutiny of certain groups applying for tax exemptions based upon their message, based upon the content of their speech. The First Amendment was written to prevent the government from doing that," he said.

Unfortunately, there are no legal consequences for the IRS's actions, the judge explained, because Congress does not allow for IRS agents to be sued or prosecuted.

"The only remedy is political: kick them and their bosses out of office."